Seated girl
ca. 1788
Medium
Gilt bronze, dark wood
Dimensions
Height: 10 in. (25.4 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Bronze
Culture
French
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Mary Stillman Harkness, 1950
Accession Number
50.145.60
Tags
Art Historical Context
Etienne-Maurice Falcon’s *Seated Girl* (ca. 1788) is a delicate gilt bronze figurine perched on a dark wood base, standing just 10 inches tall. Crafted in the waning years of the French Ancien Régime, this charming piece exemplifies the refined elegance of late Rococo sculpture. Falconet, a leading French artist renowned for his porcelain figures at the Sèvres factory and works like the Bronze Horseman in Russia, specialized in graceful, intimate depictions of the human form that captured everyday poise and innocence. The use of gilt bronze—a luxurious medium where a gold finish is applied ov...